


Save Me

by Ilovecastiel18



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forehead Kisses, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Phobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 00:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30013437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilovecastiel18/pseuds/Ilovecastiel18
Summary: Post-series. Hardy almost drowns during a case. Ellie has to calm him down. Hurt/comfort, angst, some fluff. One-Shot.
Relationships: Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	Save Me

**Author's Note:**

> I have been meaning to write this for a while, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Now it’s 2:30 in the morning on a Friday and I have nothing better to do, so here it is. If you like this story, please consider leaving me a kind review! Those always motivate me to keep writing!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters, locations, storylines, or anything else from the show Broadchurch. If I did, I would not be sitting around writing fanfiction, and I certainly wouldn’t have such a strong desire to meet David Tennant, because I already would have.

……….

Save Me

……….

Ellie was annoyed at Hardy. They were supposed to be investigating a body that was found floating in the ocean, which they had yet to identify, and he was being particularly difficult. Someone had noticed a boat floating a few hundred meters off the shore, and she and Hardy had been sent out to investigate by the Chief Super. And yet, she was being forced to fight with Hardy about it for the entire car ride to the beach.

“Miller, enough of this. There is no need for two detectives to go out and examine the boat.” Hardy groaned, his hands tightly wrapped around his seat belt.

“There needs to be two of us, sir! You cannot expect me to examine an entire boat by myself!” Ellie shouted back, pulling off the main road into a car park next to the beach.

“I’m not going out there, Miller. I don’t want to hear another word.” He barked, whipping off his seat belt and stepping out of the car. Ellie copied him, slamming the door and locking the car. “The Chief Super sent both of us out here, not just me! Stop being such a stubborn arse. I’m not investigating an entire crime scene by myself.” Ellie snapped, jogging to catch up with Hardy’s long strides.

“Miller…”

“Do not make me call the Chief Super, Hardy! I usually put up with your shit, but I’m not doing it today.” She had already been irritable when she had arrived at work, getting a call from the principal of Tom’s school, again, about illicit activities. She had had to rush in to find out that Tom had been caught doing graffiti in the bathroom, and he had been suspended. Having to deal with Hardy’s shenanigans, which she could typically deal with, was sending her over the edge.

“There’s no need for threats.” Hardy snapped. “I just don’t like the water, you know that.”

“I know. But you’ll be perfectly safe on the boat, so just stop complaining and do your job.” Ellie muttered, finally catching up with him. “Sir.” She added as an afterthought.

They made their way to the SOCO team that was setting up on the beach. They strapped themselves into their life jackets and secured themselves onto the boat that was to take them out to the abandoned boat. Hardy was silent through the whole process, but he seemed particularly squeamish and nervous. Ellie found herself feeling bad for yelling at him, but also found that she was satisfied that Hardy had listened to her instead of putting up more of a fuss.

They made it onto the boat with no mishaps, thoroughly searching it. They found a few things that could be considered evidence. When they were done, they got back onto the SOCO boat while the driver harnessed the boats together so he could pull the abandoned one to shore. Hardy was now looking queasy.

“Are you alright, sir?” Ellie asked quietly as the boats started heading to shore.

Hardy shook his head, pressing his lips together tightly. Ellie was starting to feel even worse for forcing Hardy to go to the scene with her. She knew that he had a fear of water ever since he had nearly drowned trying to pull Pippa Gillespie out of the lake where he found her, but she didn’t realize it was this bad.

She was just glad that they were almost to shore. Just as they were pulling up to the shallows, the abandoned boat caught a drift on their boat’s wake, pulling the SOCO boat sideways. Ellie fell forward into the boat, yelling at the SOCO man to watch himself. Just as she started to right herself, she realized that Hardy wasn’t on the boat anymore.

Immediate panic filled her chest. “Sir! Hardy!” she started yelling, dashing to the side of the boat where Hardy had been sitting. Just as she was starting to panic even more, she saw a life jacket floating away from a tuft of sandy brown hair that was bobbing in and out of the water.

“Oh, shit!” Ellie yelled, she yanked her phone out of her pocket and tossed in into the boat before diving into the water. She frantically swam over to Hardy, grabbing him and pulled his head above water. He gulped in air, clawing at the arms surrounding his chest. There was pure, unadulterated terror in his eyes.

“You have to stop struggling, Hardy! I’ve got you, you have to calm down!” Thanking her lucky stars that they were pretty close to shore, and that she had been a great swimmer since she was a little kid, Ellie tightened her grip on Hardy and started slowly kicking her way to shore. When her feet touched the bottom, she dragged Hardy out of the water and laid him out on the shore, as far away from SOCO as she could get. She waved everyone off who was trying to reach them.

Hardy still looked terrified, coughing up water into the sand and clawing at his chest.

“Hardy! Hardy! You have to calm down! Look at me, sir! ALEC!” she screamed. She grabbed ahold of Hardy as soon as she had caught her breath, pulling him into her chest and pushing his wet hair back from his forehead. He stopped coughing, though he still seemed to be struggling for breath.

“Hardy, can you hear me?” she asked. He nodded. “Okay, I need you to list five things that you can see. Just do it.”

Hardy dragged in a breath. “Water. Sand. Your feet. SOCO tents. Your hands.”

“Okay, good. Four things you can touch.” Ellie tightly gripped Hardy’s hand.

“Your hand. Sand. My leg. This rock.” Hardy brushed his free hand over everything that he listed.

“Three things you can hear. I know you can do it, sir.” Ellie ran her free hand up and down Hardy’s arm.

“Your breathing. Waves. Traffic.” Hardy’s breathing was steadying, and he wasn’t shaking as much as he had been before.

“Two things you can smell.”

“Salt water and mud.” Hardy placed his hand over the one on his arm, leaning his head back against Ellie’s chest.

One thing you can taste.”

“Salt water.” Hardy’s breathing had slowed down, and he was no longer clawing at his chest. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

“Do you feel better?” Ellie muttered into his ear. She turned and glared at all of the SOCO people who were gawking at them. They turned away and started working on the boat.

Hardy nodded. “How did you know how to do that?”

Ellie patted his hand. “I had a few panic attacks after Joe was arrested and during the trial. I learned a few things.”

“Thank you, Ellie.” Hardy whispered. Ellie patted his hand again, suppressing the urge to hug him tighter.

“I’m sorry I made you go out on the boat. I didn’t realize how fearful you were of the water. I won’t ever do it again.” Ellie frowned.

“It’s okay. You were right, part of my job is to investigate crime scenes, even if they make me uncomfortable. I would have been fine if I hadn’t panicked.” Hardy sat up from where he had been lying against Ellie’s chest and turned to look at her. “You saved my life, Miller.”

“All in a day’s work, sir.” Ellie joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Hardy grabbed Ellie’s hand, leaning forward and lightly kissing her forehead. “Thank you.” He whispered again. Ellie nodded, suppressing her tears and damning herself for being so emotional.

Hardy squeezed her hand one more time before getting up from the sand and slowly walking toward the SOCO tents, purposefully ignoring the looks that he was receiving.

Ellie stared after him for a moment, cursing herself for forcing him onto the boat, before getting up to follow him. After all, they had gone through all of that for the sake of the job, they could not abandon it now.


End file.
